Lawyers for former chief of staff Keith Schembri have requested revocation of a court order freezing his assets and those of his father and his business associates, all of whom stand accused of money laundering.
The request was made in the wake of a recent pronouncement in a separate case by Malta’s highest court that Maltese law allowing such blanket freezing orders to go unvaried when they are meant to be a “temporary measure,” are not compatible with EU rules.
Schembri alongside his father Alfio, business partner Malcolm Scerri and accountant Robert Zammit are pleading not guilty to a series of financial crimes linking them to the sale of printing machinery to Progress Press Ltd.
On Monday, lawyer Edward Gatt said the defence was requesting revocation of the freezing order on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.
Moreover, the police had not yet identified the amount which was allegedly laundered by the accused, he went on.
AG lawyer Antoine Agius Bonnici countered that in terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, such freezing orders were to remain in force until final judgment.
The law did not allow revocation during the proceedings, and in terms of that law, in case of conviction the court must confiscate all property of the accused.
Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech observed that almost two years had passed since the accused’s arraignment. Investigators had more than enough time to identify the alleged proceeds of crime and they should do so without further delay, she said.
Citing the relative provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the magistrate urged the authorities to effect the necessary legislative amendments to eliminate the conflict which existed between one clause which spoke of confiscation of the proceeds of crime and another which concerned confiscation of all property.
“Any equivocation in the law as promulgated, should be removed in such a way as to make it possible to vary the freezing order when the proceeds of crime are quantified, and this ought to be done without delay,” declared the magistrate.
The defence’s request would be dealt with at a later stage.
The case continues in January.
AG lawyers Antoine Agius Bonnici and Sean Xerri de Caro prosecuted. Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo were defence counsel.